Knee armour - wear it or pitch it? - Ducati.ms

dresda · Mar 14th, 2006, 6:41 pm

My knee armour is killing me! On my last ride I had a bruise on my right knee. I've even sewn a layer of polar fleece inside the knee as padding and still I feel like I'm kneeling on concrete.

How many people keep their knee armour in?

If you've found a better brand of armour, please tell us what brand it is. Mine is Technic.

Stephanie

bevel450 · Mar 14th, 2006, 9:17 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by dresda

My knee armour is killing me! On my last ride I had a bruise on my right knee. I've even sewn a layer of polar fleece inside the knee as padding and still I feel like I'm kneeling on concrete.

How many people keep their knee armour in?

If you've found a better brand of armour, please tell us what brand it is. Mine is Technic.

Stephanie

I wouldn't think of riding without it since I have damaged my knees badly in sports and I just couldn't take a bad getoff impact on them.

Armor is just what is standard in my Dianese lowers, right above the pucks.
I just looked at it and there is no particular name on it. Is there such a thing as aftermarket armor that is better than the original inserts ?

xr1owner · Mar 14th, 2006, 10:02 pm

I wear a spidi suit and its very nice.... I wished I had it on when I went down on the street in daytona..... my knees would look & feel better.....i suggest wearing them.... if u saw my knees.... u would.

Mar 15th, 2006, 4:34 am

I also have as knee armor whats standard with the Dainese leathers I wear. I also bought the Knee Pro armor that can be worn separately (from Dainese also) in order to wear it when riding with (I know I know...) ...jeans

. But so far I have found myself in jeans only very rarely. They can be worn either above the jeans or inside them.

Never had problems like these you describe with the armour though.

Doc

DukeDesmo · Mar 15th, 2006, 5:59 am

I wear 2 pce Dainese leathers which are fitted with full armour and kneesliders. A few years back I had a high speed 'glancing-blow' impact with a VW beetle (the solid, old model) who had crossed the centre line of the road in a curve.

I wasn't actually knocked off the bike but the right side of the car scraped down the right side of my bike causing expensive damage to both bike & car & with my leg in between! - my riding gear saved me serious injury, I did break a couple of toes (my Daytona boots saved me greater injury - the screwed in toeslider had the threaded inserts pulled out!) but there was a 2-3in deep dent the full length of the car with the front wheel arch pushed into the wheel - this damage to the car was caused by my knee which was only lightly bruised, thanks to a combination of slider, armour and leather, the only marks on my suit were some scratches on the kneeslider and light acid staining on the leather from where the battery smashed.

Without that combination of protection I'm certain that I would have at least broken my knee, but to answer the question my knee armour is comfortable, I can't even feel it - it is the standard hard knee/shin guard that is fitted into a velcro'd pocket on the outside of the leg and I have plastic kneesliders on top of that.

dresda · Mar 15th, 2006, 6:43 am

I'm starting to wonder if it has something to do with the fit of all my different pants. I have long legs and all the extra length is in the thigh. Generally, the knees in pants are way too high. I've had to modify the pockets for the armour to force the armour to stay low enough. Normally the armour would end up above my knee. In my technic pants the plastic cup thingy that was supposed to be in the outer pocket ended up on top of my knee, nowhere near the knee.

So, you guys who find your knee armour comfortable, when you are standing up, where does the armour/cup end up relative to your knee? Is it below the knee at that point?

Stephanie

DukeDesmo · Mar 15th, 2006, 7:09 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by dresda

So, you guys who find your knee armour comfortable, when you are standing up, where does the armour/cup end up relative to your knee? Is it below the knee at that point?

Mine sits in about the same place as when riding - just on the knee but the thigh part of the leathers are loose when standing so the armour will move slightly away allowing it to not dig in to my leg, when I'm riding it still sits on the knee but the thigh is now fitting tight and I do have stretch panels above the knee on the leathers, so this allows the armour to stay in place and yet the leg to move etc, also the calf part of the leg is quite tight so will not move much anyway.

zooom · Mar 15th, 2006, 8:42 am

in my Aerostich the top of my knee armor sits just below my kneecap when standing...when seated on the bike the inseams pulls up a bit and pull the armor into the right spot....on my Hein Gericke Tribal Evo leather pants...the knee armor sits right in its spot on my knee due to fitment of the pants and lack of gap in the crotch causing a gathering or rise when I straddle my bike.....the other issue is...what kind of armor?...is it the foam Comp CE stuff...or is it the harder GP style armor or layered armor that has elements of both like Knox?....maybe part of the solution is to look into replacement armor?!?!?!....the armor offered by Motoport that is equipped into their GP Kevlar suits is pretty damn good and worth looking into....
http://www.motoport.com/detail.asp?I...y=LittleExtras

the hardest part with the whole kneearmor gambit sometimes is break-in to form to your knee or to soften around your joint...sometimes that can be accomplished by taking a hot hair dryer and kinda heat molding it somewhat to your knee....or to put it on and trudge around the house on your knees...or various other ways...

dresda · Mar 15th, 2006, 10:34 am

Its the CE 'soft' stuff. I'll start looking for some alternatives. It might actually be better if it was the harder type and certainly more protective!

So I guess normally the area of the pant where the calf and knee is would be tight enough to hold the knee armour over the knee when standing, and there'd be enough slack or stretchy material above the knee to allow bending of the knee.

Nobody in the bike shops has a clue it seems. Or perhaps because I'm female they expect my priority to be how I look in the pants, not how they'll function.

Thanks for the help, guys!

Stephanie

dresda · Mar 15th, 2006, 7:20 pm

Okay, here's another question - When on the bike, is the knee armour supposed to cover the knee cap area or the bone below it and the top of the shin. Maybe mine's still too high??

Stpphanie